Versa Dynamics - John Bicht

Shadowfax

Shadowfax

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I was surprised that there is no Turntable forum here so posting this in General.

In the mid 80s when CDs came out and I gave away or sold all my albums, I ironically ended up working in a small Machine Shop in Ivyland PA. During that job, I got to do much of the machining and assembly of John Bicht's Vacuum Platter TTs as well as working directly with him in the shop. I found a really good article on the history of Versa Dynamics and at the bottom are several pictures of the TTs showing all the parts I made including the actual grooves in the acrylic platter from the center ring to the outer ring. (I did not do the Lathe work, but all the milling work/parts)

I never got to hear a final product, nor did I fully understand the history I was part of making back then. I still have never heard a Versa Dynamics TT.

Has anyone here had experience with John's TTs?

Here is a great article of the history of Versa Dynamics.

https://www.psaudio.com/article/ver...9j2_4V_zKZIBc1uUuI9DiNV9vhnNyd_Ii43lg38h1iAZA
 
The last time I spoke with John he told me about an evolution 'table he took to CES several years ago to test the market. By then he found few people recalled the 2.0 and 1.0 tables and it was like starting all over again. He received marginal interest and little traction with dealers so the project remained stillborn. Unless you've been in the hobby for a significant amount of time, or have owned or listened to vinyl replay at the highest level, you won't appreciate the enormity of John's work. There was a 2.0 languishing on ebay recently for a ridiculous low price (by my reckoning) and STILL there were no takers. I presently have a 2.0 and owned a 1.0 back in the day when they were current. IMHO and in spite of their age, they remain SOTA in design and execution by todays standards.
 
puroagave said:
The last time I spoke with John he told me about an evolution 'table he took to CES about ten years ago to test the market and he received marginal interest and little traction with dealers. Unless you've been in the hobby for a significant amount of time youl wont appreciate the enormity of John's work. There was a 2.0 languishing on ebay recently for a ridiculous low price (by my reckoning) and STILL there were no takers. I presently have a 2.0 and owned a 1.0 back in the day when they were current. They're still SOTA turntables and arms by todays standards.
Click to expand...

That's awesome, so you have and had the ones I machined most of the parts for.
 
I owned a Versa 1.0 (whatever the lower priced model was) back in the late '80's or early '90's.. My dealer at the time knew that I had been talking about getting a super high end turntable, but it was wishful thinking. He called me, saying that he was helping out the widow of one of his customers sell the customer's very high end equipment, including a Versa 1.0 turntable. I had read about the Versa in Absolute Sound as the best of the best at that time. The price was right, so I bought it. It came with a vacuum pump enclosed in a massive box that I had to locate in a closet to minimize the noise. It both sucked (the vacuum platter on the turntable) and blew (the air pressure for the linear tracking arm.) The dealer had a vdH Grasshopper Gold III cartridge which he included with the Versa for just a little extra. When it was working well, it was an incredible set up. Unfortunately, that was less often than I liked. So I eventually sold it for a more reliable system, not as good, but more reliable. The part that I left out was that the customer was a dentist who committed suicide. Don't think the Versa had any part in that.

Larry
 
astrotoy said:
The part that I left out was that the customer was a dentist who committed suicide. Don't think the Versa had any part in that.

Larry
Click to expand...

My recent acquisition of a Rega P3 was from the widow of a guy who did the same.

Thanks for the TT story too.
 
astrotoy said:
I owned a Versa 1.0 (whatever the lower priced model was) back in the late '80's or early '90's.. My dealer at the time knew that I had been talking about getting a super high end turntable, but it was wishful thinking. He called me, saying that he was helping out the widow of one of his customers sell the customer's very high end equipment, including a Versa 1.0 turntable. I had read about the Versa in Absolute Sound as the best of the best at that time. The price was right, so I bought it. It came with a vacuum pump enclosed in a massive box that I had to locate in a closet to minimize the noise. It both sucked (the vacuum platter on the turntable) and blew (the air pressure for the linear tracking arm.) The dealer had a vdH Grasshopper Gold III cartridge which he included with the Versa for just a little extra. When it was working well, it was an incredible set up. Unfortunately, that was less often than I liked. So I eventually sold it for a more reliable system, not as good, but more reliable. The part that I left out was that the customer was a dentist who committed suicide. Don't think the Versa had any part in that.

Larry
Click to expand...

Dentists do have a higher suicide rate than the general public, its a thing. The previous owner I bought the 1.0 from is a well known audio dist. He sold it to me with the proviso I'd not mention the table to him ever again. He was clearly done with it and went back to a Sota Cosmos/SME V. He had nagging issues with condensation in the airline while he owned it which fouled the tonearm, a problem that was easily cured buy keeping the compressor box and control box at the same ambient temperature. with 50' of airline most owners were tempted to put the compressor in a cool space like a closet or basement (a no-no). The several years I owned mine, it operated flawlessly but i'm the type that will perform my own set-up and trouble shoot gremlins.
 
puroagave said:
Dentists do have a higher suicide rate than the general public, its a thing. The previous owner I bought the 1.0 from is a well known audio dist. He sold it to me with the proviso I'd not mention the table to him ever again. He was clearly done with it and went back to a Sota Cosmos/SME V. He had nagging issues with condensation in the airline while he owned it which fouled the tonearm, a problem that was easily cured buy keeping the compressor box and control box at the same ambient temperature. with 50' of airline most owners were tempted to put the compressor in a cool space like a closet or basement (a no-no). The several years I owned mine, it operated flawlessly but i'm the type that will perform my own set-up and trouble shoot gremlins.
Click to expand...

Hello - Is there a dryer after the compressor?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Excalibur Audio in Alexandria, VA had a prototype or 2 of John's TT. We all loved it, it outperformed any SOTA and arm we compared it to, but it wouldn't stay working, reliability was it's downfall. Maplenoll was another great sounding TT that didn't make it bigtime.
 
UltraFast69 said:
Hello - Is there a dryer after the compressor?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

the 2.0 did not, the 1.o did have one in the control box nearest the turntable with a condenser coil and drain. The tables were produced but for a couple years before the they ended. Had they carried on, all of the kinks would have been worked out. The air bearings used was next level stuff requiring 40-50 PSI to operate which required a heavy duty compressor. The maker of the bearings also produced them for inertial navigation systems aboard spy satellites. JB sought DOD clearance to acquire them, at the time we were still in a cold war with the Soviet Union.
 
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